Couple gets their poppies stolen

A COUPLE from Dartmouth Park are furious after a thief pilfered prized possessions in the dead of night.

But the burglar was not after DVDs or laptops, instead making off with their crop of poppies from the front garden.

Musician Dov Waterman and his wife Keren, of Chetwynd Road, realised their garden had been raided when they woke up last Wednesday morning.

Around 50 of the seed pods had been snapped off and taken - almost all of their flower crop.

"I don't care who or why they took them - it is more the fact they walked onto our private property," said Mr Waterman. "This is not a criminal offence, this is a moral offence.

"Last year I spotted someone coming in and doing the same and I went out and said to him, 'Why don't you just ask if you want them?' He was very apologetic. I don't know if it is the same person or not."

Wanting to make this point clear to the midnight raider, the couple put up a notice on their garden gate with the words 'You're a petty thief' written in large print.

The note said: "You could have knocked on our door and asked. We would have said yes of course (to a few). But instead you stole them all."

Mr Waterman continued: "It was just us venting our anger. It was interesting to watch people's reactions when they saw the notice."

One neighbour was sympathetic to their complaint and dropped a note along with a bag of poppy seeds through their letter box.

The poppy flower is well known because of its association with the First World War. Every year in November wreaths are laid at memorials and soldiers' graves to mark Remembrance Day.

But the flower has also has a more sinister side, as in large numbers and in the right conditions it can be used to extract the drugopium, through which heroin can be made.

"I don't want to know about that but I wouldn't be too surprised," said Mr Waterman on the possibility his flowers were taken by a desperate addict.

"You never know, but whoever does it to make a drug they should know better. You would need a whole sea of them to make drugs.

Fair enough, no-one should be the victim of crime, but the attitude of these people strikes me a bit pathetic. Putting up a sign saying "You're a petty thief" - fuck off. Also, while it's true that a person would need a lot of poppies to make a decent amount of heroin, they're probably just making some poppy tea, and you don't need many for that. The whole article is reflective of a middle England, Daily Mail wankers mind-set. Either that or the couple are absolute fiends and are trying to cover up their little plantation.

It sounds like those people took a lot of pride in their garden, as retired people often do. They certainly didn't deserve what happened to them. I actually think it's quite sweet that they said they would have given some of the poppies away if a stranger had just asked, and how they seemed to forgive the stranger that they caught stealing them.

How is breaking into someone else's property - and this sounds like a personal garden that couldn't be mistaken for a crop field - and taking some of the flowers planted there not petty theft? SWIM wouldn't have been so polite if he'd put such a sign up.

The title of this thread is quite offensive, sure it is quite common to hear older people express views that many would consider wrong and close minded, but there is no need to stereotype or be so derogatory, especially when these people have done nothing wrong.

The article (which admittedly can't be trusted completely) seemed to show them as being pretty naiive and clueless about that. It's not surprising, many people grow poppies without realising what they could be used for.

O.K. I accept calling them "bastards" in the title was wrong. They're victims of a crime; that shouldn't have happened to them. However, I still defend my right to be irritated by the article and the way their response was reported. Let me elaborate...

Firstly, having some poppies stolen from your garden is a million miles away from the worst thing that can happen to you in London. I've been ripped off and beaten on those streets, and, while that might bring a smile to some of your faces, I stand by saying that if you think that having some poppies nicked is terrible you need to get some perspective.

Secondly, the reaction is very Daily Mail. It annoyed me the way they put up a sign. Should everyone do that? Should I go back to Shoreditch and write, "I didn't very much appreciate having my head kicked in" on the wall? It's just a bit pathetic.

Lastly, the guy might have been a junkie and desperately needed the poppies for the hit. I thought on here at least people might have been able to imagine a situation where the thief wasn't simply "evil". The way they said the poppies would be useless was also irritating. Either they know that's incorrect or they are simply ignorant.

I've been mugged too, and just because worse things exist doesn't make the theft of the poppies any less wrong. As for saying the poppies are useless, there is nothing wrong with being ignorant of such things and you should be glad so many people have that ignorance, or poppy regulations could start springing up. As for the sign, it was probably the only thing they felt they could do to stand up for themselves after the event. And writing a message near to where I got beaten up probably would make me feel better, in all honesty.

I never said the thief was "evil", whatever reason they had for stealing the poppies I wouldn't go that far. Whatever valid reason someone could have had for stealing the poppies, the owners of the poppies still have a right to be annoyed. I don't consider the article or the responses to be that bad, they could easily be much worse.

Look at it another way, the old couple could have been junkies and their poppy garden was their only source of opiates, and almost every poppy was taken. I know it might seem unlikely with their age, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, and whoever stole the poppies probably didn't know who owned them.

What if you had a garden of poppies and you worked to get them to grow and then one day they are all gone? You wouldn't be mad? Quit raggin on these guys they have every right to be mad.

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so true,although the last five years have been spent using smack SWIM still found time to enjoy his small yard and the plants there he had grown;he would be royally pissed if they had been stolen what ever the reasons...
the title of this thread is also ugly and uncalled for,why are they 'bastards'?

One of Swims little pleasures in life is growing Plants on his little window-ledge (Swim lives in a 2nd floor apartment)
Swim is a young man and can imagine that he would be well pissed off to find someone had desecrated his little garden and all his effort. Swim imagines that it would be much worse for an Elderly Couple who's garden might be one of their few hobbies left in life.

Swim feels sorry for the couple but is thankful that they have at least one decent neighbour who obviously shares their love of Gardening.

Swim hopes the Poppy's are inactive and give the thief a dose of the runs